TV Facts

[TVFactFan]

The show made its debut on Monday, Sept 10, 1973 on NBC at 8pm that featured Dom Deluise

The show ranked #31 out of 67 shows after 1st episode which was higher than Brady Bunch#42, and Odd Coulple#56

The show stayed in same slot until January 1974.

The show was cancelled by a local station in Utah in October of 1973 because of the subject matter

The show finished #52 for the season

Danny Wells, from Jeffersons as Charlie, appeared in episode 7 and 17

The guy who played Bookman on Good Times appeared in ep 17







Boston Globe, Sept 25, 1973
Desert News, Oct 10, 1973
Philadelphia Daily News, Sept 10, 1973
Complete Directory to Primetime TV shows

[Chocolate Moose]

Subject matter? It wasn't exactly risque!

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Moose

Subject matter? It wasn't exactly risque!

Here is the article, by Howard Pearson, 10/10/73, desert news

"Lotsa Luck, the new series on NBC channel 2, apparently isn't having any. The show has been cancelled by channel 2 "due to persistence of unacceptable subject matter and dialogue"

The series was given the axe after only 3 episodes. Channel 2 is among the first channels in the country to cancel this series. We understand a couple others, including Paducah, KY, which was the first, has also eliminated the series.

When the segment scheduled for Monday Night was dropped and the channel announced on the air why it was being cancelled, the calls started coming into the switchboard operators. Strangely, most the callers to channel 2 opposed the cancellation. Some said they didnt especially like the series, but they didn't like to see the local channel just give it the axe without a test.

Other callers said they liked the show and still others thought the channel was to be congratulated for the dropping the series. Oddly, many callers didnt know the series was channel 2. They called channel 4 to protest. The cancellation brings up a couple of big questions.

Would the series have been cancelled if it had scored a high rating instead of winding up at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings? What does this portend for the future? Would any channel take similar action against a Dean Martin Show or All in the Family?

The axing of Lotsa Luck, which stars Dom DeLuise, isn't the first action of this type to be taken locally. Channel 5 cut a movie off the air after it had been on an hour. The objections to axing it were more numerous than the protests about running it, according to the channel.

The same channel eliminated the rerun of the Maude segments on abortion and there were many protests about this action. Many other CBS affiliates elected not to carry this show or the abortion. Along with other stations, Channel 5 also decided against telecasting the anti-war drama, "Sticks and Bones."

It would be difficult to be the censor of television shows. For instance, how much of a movie like "Ryan's Daughter should be eliminated? Or should it be telecast at all? How bout Rosemary Baby or the Wild Bunch being censored? How far does a censor go? How bout John Wayne pictures with a lot of violence? Is the violence to be cut? What about some of the documentaries carried by the networks? Documentaries about share croppers or medicine? They drew protests. Should they have been eliminated because of that?

In the case of Lotsa Luck. I thought it was offensive, but I heard from others who thought it was funny. Personally I watched one and one-half episodes, and that was enough. I turned to another channel. Lotsa Luck could have played to a zero audience or even only three viewers, it wasn't worth the time.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Moose

Subject matter? It wasn't exactly risque!

Posted the article for you and he never said why he thought it was offensive

[Duster76]

By the 73-74 season All in the Family had been on for two and a half seasons, this show was mild compared to that, being cancelled by a local station seems a real headscratcher. The first episode was about a mishap with a toilet tank so I guess it was breaking "new" ground in a sense and some might consider it in questionable taste. There was also a joke that might have offended some people (especially in a conservative state like Utah). The joke set-up, Stanley's lazy brother-in-law was recounting a nightmare he had about a giant crane dropping him on top of the unemployment office, Stanley interpreted the meaning as a longing to return to the womb. The fourth episode was about Stanley contemplating taking his date to an X-rated movie. Again, it seems within bounds considering some of the shows already on the air, I don't get it.

This show had talent in front of and behind the scenes, but the situation was probably a little too British, a freeloading brother-in-law might have rubbed the American audience the wrong way.

Dom DeLuise should have had more success, he was very funny.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Duster76

By the 73-74 season All in the Family had been on for two and a half seasons, this show was mild compared to that, being cancelled by a local station seems a real headscratcher. The first episode was about a mishap with a toilet tank so I guess it was breaking "new" ground in a sense and some might consider it in questionable taste. There was also a joke that might have offended some people (especially in a conservative state like Utah). The joke set-up, Stanley's lazy brother-in-law was recounting a nightmare he had about a giant crane dropping him on top of the unemployment office, Stanley interpreted the meaning as a longing to return to the womb. The fourth episode was about Stanley contemplating taking his date to an X-rated movie. Again, it seems within bounds considering some of the shows already on the air, I don't get it.

This show had talent in front of and behind the scenes, but the situation was probably a little too British, a freeloading brother-in-law might have rubbed the American audience the wrong way.

Dom DeLuise should have had more success, he was very funny.

Probably had a lot to do with the 8pm slot

[Chocolate Moose]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

Posted the article for you and he never said why he thought it was offensive

thank you.

[James28]

I find it odd that Lotsa Luck looked compatible with Sanford and Son when NBC moved Lotsa Luck form Mondays to Fridays at midseason, but Lotsa Luck would end up being squashed in the ratings by Good Times and The Six Million Dollar Man anyway.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by James28

I find it odd that Lotsa Luck looked compatible with Sanford and Son when NBC moved Lotsa Luck form Mondays to Fridays at midseason, but Lotsa Luck would end up being squashed in the ratings by Good Times and The Six Million Dollar Man anyway.

Crazy that NBC moved the show to a time slot opposite a new show that no one had ever seen before.

[James28]

Ultimately, Lotsa Luck would have eight original airings after Sanford and Son. The only week since mid-January when no S&S original aired was January 25). How many new episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and Good Times aired against Lotsa Luck? Seven of TSMDM, and four of GT.

According to Broadcasting Magazine:

• January 11: 17.8/25 (The Girl with Something Extra had the exact same rating and share, and both sitcoms aired against a 1966 film titled Hawaii on CBS, which averaged a 42 share.)
• January 18: 18.8/30 (The Six Million Dollar Man airs its first regular episode, which attracts a 38 share; CBS repeats a John Wayne Western movie named The Undefeated.)
• February 1: 21.4/33 (possibly LL's best-ever rating?; LL is said to have gotten that rating against a low-rated Jane Goodall apes documentary on ABC, but since Six Million Dollar Man aired a new episode that day, I think that special actually pre-empted The Brady Bunch, unless TSMDM's "Operation Firefly" episode got shifted to 9 or something.)
• February 8: 15.4/23 (Good Times premiered that day, with a 23.1/35; TSMDM has a 24/36; Lotsa Luck lost 21 share points from Sanford and Son.)
• February 15: 15.7/24 (GT has a 22.1/34; TSMDM does not air that day.)

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by James28

Ultimately, Lotsa Luck would have eight original airings after Sanford and Son. The only week since mid-January when no S&S original aired was January 25). How many new episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and Good Times aired against Lotsa Luck? Seven of TSMDM, and four of GT.

According to Broadcasting Magazine:

• January 11: 17.8/25 (The Girl with Something Extra had the exact same rating and share, and both sitcoms aired against a 1966 film titled Hawaii on CBS, which averaged a 42 share.)
• January 18: 18.8/30 (The Six Million Dollar Man airs its first regular episode, which attracts a 38 share; CBS repeats a John Wayne Western movie named The Undefeated.)
• February 1: 21.4/33 (possibly LL's best-ever rating?; LL is said to have gotten that rating against a low-rated Jane Goodall apes documentary on ABC, but since Six Million Dollar Man aired a new episode that day, I think that special actually pre-empted The Brady Bunch, unless TSMDM's "Operation Firefly" episode got shifted to 9 or something.)
• February 8: 15.4/23 (Good Times premiered that day, with a 23.1/35; TSMDM has a 24/36; Lotsa Luck lost 21 share points from Sanford and Son.)
• February 15: 15.7/24 (GT has a 22.1/34; TSMDM does not air that day.)

Yes you are correct on Feb 1st TSMDM aired at 9pm and the Brady Bunch was pre-empted due to the Jane Goddall Special.